Not sure if this would be allowed or not....

[+SirDonB]

I am trying to start my own business. I know that any thing with a commercial tone is not allowed as per the rules, however this is my question... If I wanted to change my profile name or create another account using my companies name as my geocaching name can I do it as long as I dont try to promote the business through geocaching? Any caches found or hid would be of myself personally and not as a company trying to promote. I am wondering this as for my company I would be doing a lot of traveling and would be geocaching in the areas I would be working in that day.

 

The other reason to my inquiry is because I geocache with my kids and our "team" name would end up being the same as my companies name.

[AZcachemeister]

Your team name can be anything you want (within reason).

 

I have seen some cachers with 'their business' as their team name.

 

That being said, don't try to fool us or yourself, you would be attempting to promote your business via your team name.

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

I know that any thing with a commercial tone is not allowed as per the rules

Actually, this is not true at all...

Caches may not promote a business or an agenda.

 

Think about the Jeep, Geiko and other TBs. They certainly promote another business. Diabetes TBs certainly have an agenda.

It's all in how you go about it...

[+Don_J]

Your team name can be anything you want (within reason).

 

I have seen some cachers with 'their business' as their team name.

 

That being said, don't try to fool us or yourself, you would be attempting to promote your business via your team name.

 

Agreed. Every time he posted a log, he'd be promoting the business. That will put a lot of people off.

[+Dogmeat*]

As long as you're not posting "HEY USE MY BUSINESS" I don't see why it would be a problem. No one is going to see your name and think "Hey, I wonder if that's some sort of company..."

 

I'd say go for it. I have never read that deeply into a username.

[+WarNinjas]

Ive seen it done. Not sure if it is right or not but I have seen it.

[GrandPotentate]

You can promote your business, just get creative. Place a cache in front of the business and put some coupons in the cache or create some signature swag and include a coupon with it. Just make sure they are worth something, I've found coupons for free admission to the local drive-in, free side with sandwich, free car washes. But I will say that I get annoyed when I find business cards as swag, especially when it's a folded up card in a pill bottle, that usually gets CITO'ed.

[+J Grouchy]

As long as you're not posting "HEY USE MY BUSINESS" I don't see why it would be a problem. No one is going to see your name and think "Hey, I wonder if that's some sort of company..."

 

I'd say go for it.

 

Ditto.

 

I have never read that deeply into a username.

 

Thank you...

[Keystone]

You can create such a username, but don't include promotional content or commercial links when writing your cache logs. You can include basic informational details about the business on your profile page.

[+SirDonB]

That being said, don't try to fool us or yourself, you would be attempting to promote your business via your team name.

 

I am not trying to fool anyone... My last name is Burdek and I cache with my sons our team name would be Burdek and sons... as a tribute to my time working with my father and looking forward to do the same with my sons, I had chose the company name "Burdek and Son's" 3 years ago when I started reorganizing my fathers company that he gave me the keys to 10 years ago. I have only been geocaching for 2 years and within the last month or so my boys have started geocaching with me.

 

If you want to know more about my company feel free to email me through my profile and I will talk to you more about it there as I am not here to promote my business. I am here for geocaching not to promote my company. I have other media outlets to promote with that will target a wider population than a niche group that I am not targeting. Now if I was offering something geocaching related, that might be different.

 

The reason I asked was because I didnt want to have a team name close enough to or exactly as my company name and end up violating a rule. In addition, if my team name and company name are the same, a local geocacher could thing that anything to do with that account would be promoting the business when in fact the company and the geocaching account would separate and have nothing to do with the other.

 

and the whole name idea may be canned anyway as I would have to come up with a new team name if I can get my daughters to go caching with us. They have started to show some interest in going out with me and my boys.

 

So my whole point here to you AZcachemeister is this... I call BS to you and your point of view. I am very capable of keeping my personal life and business life separate from one another. At this time the company name and team name though being the same, make sense for vastly different reasons.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

To everyone else whom responded to this point, thank you for your opinions, and I was thinking that is should not be a problem as long as I kept the business out of it. As Keystone said, I will keep in mind that I can mention the business and maybe a link on the PROFILE page as long as I do not do so on the cache page.

 

To anyone as mentioned earlier in this post, if you want to talk to me about my business, feel free to contact me and I will talk to you through email or on the phone. I will not get into specifics and details about my company here as this is not the place to do so.

[+Don_J]

That being said, don't try to fool us or yourself, you would be attempting to promote your business via your team name.

 

I am not trying to fool anyone... My last name is Burdek and I cache with my sons our team name would be Burdek and sons... as a tribute to my time working with my father and looking forward to do the same with my sons, I had chose the company name "Burdek and Son's" 3 years ago when I started reorganizing my fathers company that he gave me the keys to 10 years ago. I have only been geocaching for 2 years and within the last month or so my boys have started geocaching with me.

 

If you want to know more about my company feel free to email me through my profile and I will talk to you more about it there as I am not here to promote my business. I am here for geocaching not to promote my company. I have other media outlets to promote with that will target a wider population than a niche group that I am not targeting. Now if I was offering something geocaching related, that might be different.

 

The reason I asked was because I didnt want to have a team name close enough to or exactly as my company name and end up violating a rule. In addition, if my team name and company name are the same, a local geocacher could thing that anything to do with that account would be promoting the business when in fact the company and the geocaching account would separate and have nothing to do with the other.

 

and the whole name idea may be canned anyway as I would have to come up with a new team name if I can get my daughters to go caching with us. They have started to show some interest in going out with me and my boys.

 

So my whole point here to you AZcachemeister is this... I call BS to you and your point of view. I am very capable of keeping my personal life and business life separate from one another. At this time the company name and team name though being the same, make sense for vastly different reasons.

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

To everyone else whom responded to this point, thank you for your opinions, and I was thinking that is should not be a problem as long as I kept the business out of it. As Keystone said, I will keep in mind that I can mention the business and maybe a link on the PROFILE page as long as I do not do so on the cache page.

 

To anyone as mentioned earlier in this post, if you want to talk to me about my business, feel free to contact me and I will talk to you through email or on the phone. I will not get into specifics and details about my company here as this is not the place to do so.

 

Burdek and Son's is quite innocuous. Most would look at that as any other team name. Burdek and Son's Floor Services would be different and as you noted, many others would think that you were doing this specifically to promote your business. For many geocachers, mixing commercialism and geocaching is a cardinal sin. Many use geocaching to try to escape that part of their daily lives. There have been many intense discussions here on such things.

 

I have clicked on profiles and seen someone say that they own a local business or service and have never had a problem with that as I see as simply networking. If I ever needed that service, I would probably look them up.

[+SirDonB]

Burdek and Son's is quite innocuous. Most would look at that as any other team name. Burdek and Son's Floor Services would be different and as you noted, many others would think that you were doing this specifically to promote your business. For many geocachers, mixing commercialism and geocaching is a cardinal sin. Many use geocaching to try to escape that part of their daily lives. There have been many intense discussions here on such things.

 

I have clicked on profiles and seen someone say that they own a local business or service and have never had a problem with that as I see as simply networking. If I ever needed that service, I would probably look them up.

 

This is why I choose it as my company name... it was generic enough that I could transform it into any type of business and it would work, so if I change direction in a few years, I do not have to come up with a new name, I can simply add specific industry type to it as in your example. I just happen to have one name that work for 2 different purposes for different reasons. I was just asking for the sake of local geocahers getting the wrong idea after putting the 2 names together from seeing me in the logs and around the area.

 

I was planning on getting a vehicle trackable sticker for my van, again, it would be a dual purpose van (personal and would be using it as a company vehicle). I am planning on caching in the areas I go to for my company and since I use the same vehicle for my personal use as well, I wanted a trackable sticker on it. I would be using those vehicle magnets to vary the van in its different uses as well. At least till I can buy a dedicated company vehicle. Thinking about the trackable sticker for that too, not sure yet since I do want to keep the 2 separate. I may just get a bag from the geostore and a trackable patch to keep with me everywhere I go.

 

There are too many options out there. LOL